A muslim woman, Faizah Shaheen, 28, was simply reading a book on her outbound flight to Turkey, only to be mistaken as a terrorist and arrested under the suspicion of anti-terrorist police.
Arriving at Doncaster airport, South Yorkshire, UK, Shaheen was arrested and questioned for 15 minutes under Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act. She was told that suspicion was raised about her book after a cabin crew member had reported that she was reading a 'Syrian phrase book'.
The book, titled ‘Syria Speaks: Art and Culture from the Frontline’, is an award-winning collection of essays, poems and songs from Syrian artists and writers. But reading this was mistaken as a terrorist’s behaviour and wrongly so.
Shaheen now intends to sue the travel company Thompson, taking legal action to obtain a court declaration that she was discriminated against under the Equality Act.
According to the Daily mail she said: “It's just completely stupid really because it was clearly an art book, written in English, and 'Syrian' isn't even a language.
“It just shows a complete lack of education and ignorance about the region.
“Even if the book had been in another language, no one should be discriminated for just reading a book.
“Being detained by the counter-terrorism police after my honeymoon because I was reading a book about art and culture was humiliating.
“All I want is an apology for being treated in this way.”
A spokeswoman for Thomson said: “We appreciate that in this instance Mrs Shaheen may have felt that over-caution had been exercised, however like all airlines, our crew are trained to report any concerns they may have as a precaution.
“We're really sorry if Ms Shaheen remains unhappy with how she feels she was treated.
“We wrote to her to explain that our crew undergo general safety and security awareness training on a regular basis.
“As part of this they are encouraged to be vigilant and share any information or questions with the relevant authorities, who would then act as appropriate.
“We appreciate that in this instance Ms Shaheen may have felt that over caution had been exercised, however like all airlines, our crew are trained to report any concerns they may have as a precaution.”
Faziah Shaheen
